Here’s an interesting article I came across about searching for solitude in Yosemite. The piece is called “Yosemite Isn’t Disneyland” by Martin LeFevre.
Scoop: “Sitting in the sun by the languid Merced River while fog and clouds cling to the peaks and hollows of the rock face rising to dizzying heights before me, I realize without a shadow of a doubt that I%u2019m in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
There is, however, a sorrow in being in such a spectacular place visited by so many people with a tourist mentality. One palpably feels in Yosemite what the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins called %u201Cthe smudge and smell of man.%u201D It%u2019s not just ironic, it%u2019s moronic that solitude and silence should be so hard to find in Yosemite Valley.
Two busloads of Japanese tourists, part of a California tour that had just taken them to Disneyland and Universal Studios, disembark with the enthusiasm of young children. They have the air of people trying to do so much in so little time, making them almost oblivious to the indescribable beauty of Half Dome, El Capitan, and the many other formations pressing down from thousands of feet above.”
Photo by Patrick Quinn-Graham via Flickr.
Comments
2 responses to “Searching for Solitude in Yosemite”
As a year-round resident of Yosemite Valley, yes, sometimes it is very trying to deal with the crowds; I just want to buy a bottle of beer and some laundry soap, and have waited for up to half an hour in line at Yosemite Village Store. Then there are the times when I need to be at the other end of the valley at work, and have been delayed by people leaning out of car windows to take pictures of squirrels.
I don’t know how many times I’ve been setting up for a shot at the tunnel, only to be literally nudged out of my carefully chosen spot by a busload of tourists–oddly, never by foreign visitors, but by good old Americans.
I’ve learned to deal with it all. I’ve learned to wait until almost closing time to go to the store; I’ve scouted out spots that offer great views and no company. And the bus drivers have the means to encourage traffic obstructionists to move along if I take the free shuttle instead of drive.
I’ve got the valley year round. Visitors are only here for a miniscule portion of their lives, and if I keep that in mind, I’m less inclined to get irate.
I’ve also met some of the nicest foks in the world here.
Edie
Yosemite is crowded but there are ways to avoid some of the crowds that include taking the less traveled trails, visiting in off seasons, and getting up very early.